Mexico & Nafta - May 2014 (ISSN 1741-444X)

The federal intervention in the troubled state of Michoacán ordered by President Enrique Peña Nieto [RM-14-02] has made some headway in restoring order and prising the grip of organised crime over the state. But after federal security forces arrested several municipal and state government officials accused by the Michoacán self-defence groups of having links with organised crime, local political leaders have warned that the federal authorities must be careful not to unjustly persecute local politicians, as in the infamous Michoacanzo launched by former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006-2012).

Acting in coordination with the 'self-defence' groups (armed local vigilantes), the federal security forces have been moving against local government officials long accused by the 'self-defence' groups of collaborating with the state’s dominant criminal organisation, Los Caballeros Templarios (LCT). The first of these to be arrested was none other than José Jesús Reyna García, the state's interior minister, who was detained on 5 April.

A member of the federally-ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Reyna was interim state governor for six months last year (April-October) during Governor Fausto Vallejo’s extended sick leave [RM-13-11] ,and he was at the helm when the state security crisis reached alarming levels amid fierce clashes between the LCT and the proliferating 'self-defence' groups. Since then, the 'self-defence' groups have accused Reyna of allowing the LCT to freely operate in the state, making the point that he is married to the sister of the wife of Servando ‘La Tuta’ Gómez, the top LCT leader.

According to the federal attorney general’s office (PGR), Reyna was arrested following the emergence of (undisclosed) evidence that he had held private meetings with Gómez. The PGR said that Reyna was being investigated for “possible contacts with criminal organisations” and that formal charges against him would be presented within 40 days. These have not been presented to date.

While potentially embarrassing for the PRI, Reyna’s arrest has been spun as evidence that the Peña Nieto government will go after criminals “irrespective of their party affiliation” and that impunity will no longer be permitted in Michoacán. Reyna’s arrest was followed by that of Uriel Chávez Mendoza, the PRI mayor of Apatzingán, on 15 April; Noé Octavio Aburto, the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) mayor of Tacámbaro, also on 15 April; and Arquímides Oseguera, the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) mayor of the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas on 28 April. Like Reyna, Chávez, Aburto and Oseguera have also been accused by self-defence groups of colluding with the LCT. Unlike Reyna, Chávez, Aburto and Oseguera were immediately charged with illicit association, kidnapping and extortion.

Immediately after Oseguera’s arrest, the PRD leader in Michoacán, Carlos Torres Piña, issued a statement calling for the judicial process against Oseguera to be “fair and in accordance with the law”. This was backed by the PAN and also, somewhat unexpectedly, by Governor Vallejo.

Vallejo warned against a repeat of the Michoacanazo, when the Calderón administration arrested a string of local politicians on suspicion of colluding with organised crime, only to have to release them later for lack of proper evidence. Vallejo’s comments are less surprising if one considers that the PGR’s investigations into links between Michoacán government officials and organised crime are ongoing. Although the governor has received the full backing of the federal government, some of his close associates may now also be in the PGR’s sights. 

• Demanding explanations from Vallejo

On 29 April Juan Francisco Torres Landa, the head of the anti-crime lobby group México Contra la Delicuencia (MUCD), said that following the recent arrests of public officials in Michoacán, Governor Fausto Vallejo was “obliged to provide public explanations”. “It is impossible to believe that so much was going on around the governor, and yet he knew nothing about it and was unable to react”, Torres commented. In particular Torres said that Vallejo must provide full details of his relationship with his former interior minister, José Jesús Reyna, who played such an important role until his arrest. “The big question for the governor is: How much did he know about Mr. Reyna’s contacts?”, Torres said.